Operation: Survival
by Gandalf3213
Summary: When Tommy, Chuckie, and Phil enter the YMCA camping tournament, they think there's not much that can go wrong. They were wrong.
1. Getting There

**Don't own Rugrats**

Phil looked up only when Tommy and Chukie entered the room, then looked back down at the magazine he was holding in his hands. "I'm not going." He said, burying himself deeper into the pillows and holding the magazine closer to his face. He didn't want to see the disappointment he knew would appear on his friends' faces.

"But Phil-" Tommy started. Phil cut him off.

"But nothing, Tommy. Don't you remember the last time we tried to go camping? I almost drowned! You almost drowned! Isn't that enough evidence to say that camping and us don't mix?" Phil turned back to his comic.

"Phil, c'mon, that was two years ago!" Tommy argued with his pal, though he knew the situation was hopeless. Phil wouldn't change his mind. Unless…

"Okay, you don't have to come, but you'll miss out on the prizes the YMCA is giving out to the first people done with the trail." Tommy saw Phil's ears perk up. He knew he had him interested. "Yup, all those good things gone to waste. What was the grand prize, Chuckie?" Tommy looked casually over at his friend and winked.

"I heard that the grand prize was the new whatchamacallit-that Play Station 4.0 thing."

That hooked Phil. He jumped off the bed, ignoring the book that now fluttered to the floor. "Okay, you got me. But how are three fifteen-year-olds going to win that thing?"

Tommy had an answer. "We start early. Four o' clock on Saturday. Four _in the morning, Phil_!" He punctuated the last words. Phil was notorious for sleeping in.

Phil nodded. He looked at Chuckie. "How'd you get the Chuckster to go?"

Tommy shrugged. "Same way I always do. I tell him he gets to see you goof up again."

Tommy bolted out of the room with Phil on his heals, leaving Chuckie collapsed on the bed, dying from laughter.

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Hey, how do you like my little teaser? The other chapters will be longer, I swear. 


	2. Whistling

**I don't own the Rugrats. I wish I did.**

Tommy loved this. He looked at Chuckie, who was picking his way slowly but surely through the dense underbrush and gave him a thumbs up. Chuckie replied with a small smile. Even Phil, who had gotten over his initial doubts, was having fun. He was whistling a soft, sad tune that he had picked up in an old western movie and seemed lost in thought.

Tommy thought back to an hour ago. They had been waiting to start and were saying the last of their goodbyes. The mothers, after fretting over them so much that anyone would think they'd be gone months instead of four days, had already backed away and joined the crowd. All that was left were the kids.

Dil and Kimi, who were both too young to meet the cut-off age of fourteen, were none the less pleading to go along. Lil, who was of course old enough, had whispered something to Phil that made them both laugh. Lil would help hold down the fort until they got back.

They had started off, each of them carrying a backpack and Chuckie carrying a small cooler besides. It was a gorgeous day; warm for May, and not to sunny. Perfect.

Chuckie's frantic scream tore Tommy out of his reverie. He looked up to find Chuckie flat on his bottom, his hands up over his face. Phil was laughing hysterically.

"What happened?" Tommy asked, dashing forward to help Chuckie off the ground and glaring at Phil. He knew that the brown haired teenager was somehow involved with this scheme.

"Spider!" Chuckie exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Phil, who was still laughing. Tommy turned and whacked Phil on the head, just to shut him up.

"It's not funny." Tommy said as calmly as he could, though he really wanted to scream at Phil's childish prank. "Chuckie had all the water in that box-" he pointed to the crate that lay empty in the middle of the path. "And now it's gone."

Phil nodded, all laughter gone. He started hunting for the water bottles up and down the path. All three knew that they needed to find the water, or else they'd have to turn back.

"You shouldn't let him get at you like that!" Tommy admonished Chuckie, who had a long history of feuding with Phil.

"It's not _my_ fault!" Chuckie protested, holding up both hands. "_He_ was the one who came at me with that spider!"

Tommy bent down. "A fake spider?" he shook his head. "We're not two anymore, Chuck, you shouldn't be afraid of **fake** spiders." He threw the toy into the woods.

"It looked real." Chuckie muttered before helping his comrades. They found fifteen out of the twenty water bottles, which was enough for them to continue their journey.

When the boys started off again, nobody was looking at each other. And Phil had stopped whistling.

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Reviews are welcome! (hint, hint) 


	3. Singin' in the Rain

**Own nothing**

"We have to make camp!"

Phil could barely hear Tommy's voice through the rain. He was soaked to the skin, shivering and cold. Phil looked back at the two boys behind him. "I think I see a clearing up ahead!" He ran-a stupid move, he knew it, but he was so cold. So, so cold.

Phil, always clumsy, tripped over a root. His head hit a rock. The last thing he remembered were Lil's words, the ones she'd said to him before he'd left. "You come back in one, piece, you hear? I don't want to be hearing from Tommy or Chuck that you tripped over your own over-sized feet." _Sorry Lil._ Phil thought, then he let the blackness consume him.

"Phil. PHIL!" Chuckie called. He couldn't imagine where Phil could have gone. He had been _right there_. "Tommy, I can't see Phil!"

"I can't see anything!" The younger teen replied, then "Woah!"

Chuckie whipped around just in time to see Tommy slip. "Tommy!" Chuckie called, racing towards his falled comrade as fast as his pack would allow.

"I'm okay." Tommy assured. "I just tripped over-" his voice drifted off. "Shit. Phil."

Chuckie looked down and sucked in his breath. Phil was lying in the mud, a red patch forming next to his head. Automatically, the first aid skills his father had drilled into him since the day he was born came into play.

"I'll set up camp, Tommy, you stay with Phil." Chuckie dropped his bag and scooped up Phil's (Phil's had the tent.) He hurried towards the clearing.

Chuckie slipped and slid on the mud, blinking rain out of his eyes. Somehow, he managed to drive the stakes far enough into the ground so that they'd stay put. Somehow, he managed to put up the tent. Somehow, he managed to tie the knots.

Just don't ever ask him how he did all that stuff.

Chuckie quickly crawled into the tent, which, not being **completely** dry was at least not full-out wet, and deposited the now-empty bag. Then he raced back to Tommy.

He found Tommy trying to wake Phil up. "This can't be good." Tommy frowned. "Do you think it's all right to move him?"

Chuckie shrugged. "Better then leaving him out here." The two carried the unconscious boy fifty yards to their tent.

Once inside, they tried to make Phil comfortable, unrolling one of the sleeping bags and depositing him on top of it. Not knowing how else to help him, Tommy and Chuckie tried to make themselves warmer. They struggled out of their wet clothes and put on dry ones.

Chuckie was toweling his hair dry when he heard a groan coming from the direction of the sleeping bag.

"Phil!" He rushed over to the boy, kneeling beside him. Tommy came towards them, too. "Man, were we worried about you!"

Phil rubbed his head. "How ling was I out?" he questioned.

"Two, maybe two-and-a-half hours." Tommy responded. Phil groaned. "What's wrong?"

"Other then the fact that my head hurts like hell, it's raining, and we're probably losing the competition, you mean?" Phil shot at Tommy.

Chuckie tried to smooth things over. "Things will be better in the morning, you guys. Right now, we really need some sleep." When it was obvious that neither Phil nor Tommy were about to back down, Chuckie started singing (very off-key)

"The sun'll come out. Tomorrow. Bet you bottom dollar that to-mor-row...they'll be SUN."

Phil started smiling, caught Tommy's eye, and erupted in a fit of laughter that had him bent over double and did nothing to help his head-ache. Tommy was laughing, too, and all three ended up singing;

"To-morrow, to-morrow, I love ya, to-morrow. You're only a day a-way!"

They laughed at their own horrible singing and the mood lightened.

So Phil figured this was not a good time to mention that his headache had gotten worse, and he was dizzy.

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You like it? I think three boys singing in the rain is, well, horrible. Anyways, review.


	4. Going Forwards or Back?

**I own Rugrats. I own Rugrats. Hey, a guy can dream!**

Chuckie packed up the tent, happy to finally be doing something. He heard Tommy on the other side of the clearing, cursing wood, rain, and all of creation because he couldn't get a fire to start on the wet wood.

He didn't hear Phil at all.

Phil, usually the most energetic of the group, had been sluggish and a little out of it all since they'd woken up with the sun about an hour ago. He had barely said a word at all besides "Good morning." And Chuckie, after his constant surveying of the younger boy, saw him repeatedly bring his hand to his head and wince.

Chuckie took up his problem with Tommy.

"I don't like the way he's looking, but what can we do?" Tommy said, after hearing Chuckie out. He'd known Phil for his entire life, longer then he'd known his own brother. He knew that Phil would veto radioing for help.

And he did. Over breakfast, they discussed the issue. Phil said flat out, "I'm fine, Tommy. Chuckie just worries too much." Which was true.

"Fine." Tommy shrugged. He held up three fingers. "How many do you see?"

Phil sighed. "Err...I don't know, maybe I'll have to go ask a two-year-old. It's three, Sherlock."

Tommy sighed. He knew that Phil was putting on a macho act. And he didn't like it. Not the act-Phil did that all the time. The fact that he had to put on the act. It meant that he was in pain.

"Phil, you need to see a doctor." Tommy said straight out.

Phil looked defiant for a fraction of a second before deflating. "I am so screwed, Tommy. I know that. But look-" he shoved the map of the course at Tommy. "We're almost then half done, and I **want to win that prize.**" He saw a look of trepidation on Tommy's face, but he had one more thing. "If I pass out again, you can radio for help."

Chuckie, who had been looking at the map over Tommy's shoulder, said timidly. "He's right, Tommy, we _are_ almost halfway there."

Tommy sometimes hated the job as the leader. He'd had it since he was less then two years old, even though he was the youngest of their original group of four (not counting Angelica) Now, he had to decide which was better, winning a prize, or getting an unwilling Phil back to the starting line.

"Fine, we go ahead. But Phil, I swore to Lil that I'd get you back in one piece." He said, shaking a finger at the boy. "So if you feel sick or something, tell me. I don't want to have to deal with your sister. She scares me."

Phil punched Tommy on the arm and gave a whoop of joy. Tommy and Chuckie both saw a ripple of pain move across his face, only to be masked by an even bigger smile. Tommy wondered _did I do the right thing?_

Chuckie's thoughts were different, but he kept them to himself. However, he did look after Phil more carefully from then on.

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They're stupid, and I don't care. Guys are stupid (coming from a guy, that's probably the worst thing to say) Anyways, review! 


	5. Remember?

**I don't own Rugrats. I don't own Norway either, in case you were wondering.**

Tommy had transferred most of Phil's things into his pack. Just enough to make Phil's pack lighter, but not enough to make Phil think that he wasn't pulling his weight.

The day had turned out to be much better then yesterday. The morning sun had dried up most of the rain, so there was little chance of anyone slipping. _Good,_ Tommy thought. He glanced over at Phil yet again, but the other teen seemed happy, whistling a song that Tommy didn't recognize.

He stopped to check the map. They should be near Spider Creek by now. No sign of a creek, or river. He listened for any sign of water. Nothing. Great.

He decided to walk for another ten minutes. They could be going slower then he had thought.

But the next ten minutes brought no sign of water, and Tommy was forced to tell the others. "Guys, I think we're lost."

Phil stopped whistling in the middle of a bar. Chuckie glanced over at Phil before looking at Tommy. "We can't be lost, Tommy!" He exploded. "What about Phil?"

Tommy was already digging in his pack for the radio that had been issued to them at the start of the race. "I'll radio in for help." He announced. "I don't care about the race anymore."

His hand reached the spot where the radio should be, only to find nothing. No radio of any kind. "Uh-oh." He said.

"Great!" Phil exploded. "You lost the radio!" he stormed from the two of them, kicking rocks and shouting. About ten yards away, he sat down, holding his head, eyes closed. A huge, brain-splitting headache, like nothing he'd ever experienced before. He held his head, afraid that if he let go, his brains would splatter all over Tommy and Chuckie.

_I need you back in one piece. In one piece. One piece_. Stupid voice. Stupid Lil, didn't she know he was going to die?

But the pain edged away slowly, and after a couple minutes, he was able to open his eyes into slits. He saw the anxious faces of Tommy and Chuckie in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Phil." Tommy muttered. "I'm sorry I got us lost." He cast his mind around for something, anything that would take Phil's mind off their situation.

"Remember the time, right after Dil was born, that we wanted to take him back to the hospital, 'cause he wouldn't stop screaming?" recognition showed on Phil's face, so he kept going. "We got lost in these woods, and we were only two. We only had that Reptar thing." He kept going.

"And we got separated. You and Lil were together, but you thought Lil had died. Me and Dil were together, but I wanted Dil dead. Chuckie, I think you met up with Angelica and Spike." He said, smiling when he remembered. "Good ol' Spike, he was the one who saved us."

"I guess we've been worse off." Chuckie muttered. This was definitely true.

Tommy agreed and stood up, thinking out loud. "Our parents and the Y won't expect us back for two days, but there's that check point that we're supposed to reach by tonight or early tomorrow. When we don't check in, someone'll come looking for us. We just stay put." He glanced at Chuckie. "Can you build a fire?"

Chuckie nodded and went off to gather wood. Tommy knelt next to Phil. "Phil?" he looked up. "How bad is it, Phil?"

"Pre'y bad." He mumbled. Tommy gazed over at Chuckie struggling with a pile of small sticks.

"Listen, just sit tight. I'll get you out of this. I promise."

He ran off, leaving Phil alone. Hoping that he'd keep the promise.

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	6. A Signal

**I don't own Rugrats**

Phil knew that he wasn't okay. He knew he wasn't close to being okay. But he still tried to help Tommy and Chuckie. "Hey, where's the bag with the water?" he called over to Chuckie.

Chuckie stood up so quickly that he hit his head on an overhanging branch. "Ouch! Err...it should be with the food over by the fire."

Phil shook his head. "It isn't."

All three boys looked at each other. Tommy broke the silence first. "Well, I heard a stream back there. Phil, why don't you and I get some water from there?"

Phil nodded and retrieved the metal pans that were supposed to hold food. He knew that water was more important then food. The walk to the stream was slow and quiet. Phil didn't look at Tommy until they got to the body of water. He saw that it was deeper then he had expected.

"I'll go out." Phil volunteered, remembering Tommy's fear of the water. Before his friend could say anything, he hopped into the raging current.

Phil stayed at the bottom as long as possible, finding that the water soothed his aching head. He pushed off the bottom and two seconds later, he was above the water, grinning at Tommy like a maniac. "That was the best time I had all trip."

Tommy didn't look pleased. "Get in here, Phil!" he shouted, "You could have just gotten it from the side!"

Phil took his time getting to shore, explaining as he went. "Yeah, but in the middle, the water's colder." Which was not true. He'd just wanted to go into the river.

Tommy hauled Phil onto the hard ground. "Why I ever brought you on this trip, I'll never know!" Tommy raged. "I can't believe you!" he said smacking Phil on the head. Then realizing what he'd done, he started apologizing. "Oh, Phil, I forgot. I'm so sorry."

Phil held his head, again curling into a little ball. In his mind, holding his head was necessary. It would keep his brain from flying everywhere. A moan escaped him. He just wanted this pain to end. He wanted it to go away.

He wanted to die.

Phil retained enough presence of mind to hold onto the trays of water as Tommy pushed and tugged him back to camp. He didn't remember much, except for Tommy screaming for Chuckie to help him. The pain had started to subside, and he felt good, kind of floaty, the last thing he remembered was somebody tugging the water out of his hands.

"What are we going to do about Phil?"

Tommy looked warily from Chuckie, who had asked the question, to Phil, who was still out cold in the tent. "I don't know, Chuckie. We need help-Phil needs help. I don't know what might happen if we keep going on like this."

Chuckie nodded in agreement. He got up and added dry leaves to the fire, making the smoke billow higher. "A signal-for Phil."

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	7. Feelings

**I own nothing**

Lil sat bolt upright in her bed, shaking uncontrollably. She had just had the wildest, scariest dream about her brother. That he'd been hurt...

Lil put her hands to her head, slowly shaking it. She needed to see her brother, just to make sure.

She put her head back down on her bed, remembering that Phil had gone on that stupid camping trip with Tommy and Chuckie. She remembered the last camping trip he'd been on. Her mom said he almost got sucked into rapids.

Lil shook her head again, mentally trying to get rid of the image. She hugged her legs to her chest and stared straight ahead, thinking.

Her phone rang. She picked it up before it could ring again, wondering vaguely who was calling her at one in the morning. It was Kimi. "Lil?" she nodded, remembered that Kimi couldn't see her, and let out a sleepy, "Yeah?" she heard Kimi take a breath.

"I think...I think that my brother's in danger. I know that sounds weird but-" Lil cut her off.

"I had the exact same feeling, Kimi. Do you think we should tell someone. To me, it was like Phil was hurt." She heard an intake of breath on the other side of the line.

"I don't think Chuckie was hurt." Kimi said slowly. "Just scared. Really scared."

Lil couldn't help teasing. "What else is new? But listen. Tomorrow they're supposed to be back. Really early, too, like, ten. If they don't come back, we'll alert the army." She got a giggle out of Kimi, exactly what she'd hoped for.

She hung up, but just as she was about to go to sleep, her phone rang again. "Dil?" she said, curiously. Tommy's younger brother rarely called her.

"Yeah. Listen, Lil, I think something's up with Tommy."

Now this was freakishly scary. Two people can get weird feeling anf that would be a coincidence. Three was, like, a premonition. "Yeah, what was it like?" she asked carefully.

"Like, he was confused, he didn't know what to do. And he was worried about someone, or about something." The younger boy's voice turned pleading. "I', sorry I woke you up, but what do you think it means?"

Lil tried to reassure him. "Listen, you didn't wake me up. I woke up after a strange dream I had about Phil. Then Kimi called me, she thinks something's up with Chucke. But we just have to wait. They'll be back tomorrow, and if they aren't, we'll call in the cavalry."

Dil's reply was hesitant, unsure, "If you say so." They both hung up.

But Lil found that getting to sleep after that was extremely difficult. She lay in bed, wondering if she'd see Philip again, and if she did, what kind of condition he'd be in.

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Review? 


	8. My Own Worst Enemy

**I own it as much as I own Iceland. Which is not a lot. **

Dil was hopping from one foot to the other, looking around expectantly. Next to him, Lil was pacing, waiting...always waiting. Kimi was on her cell phone, but her eyes kept straying to the path where Chuckie, Tommy, and Phil were supposed to come down.

All the other contestants were already back. The winners-four big Hispanic guys-gave the grand prize PlayStation 4.0 to the second runners up, a couple nerdy-looking teenagers.

But there was still no sign of their friends.

"Where are the boys?" Stu wondered aloud, checking his watch. The crowd was starting to thin out, and the only people left were the sponsors of the race and the waiting families. "Excuse me, sir!" Stu went up to what looked like the man in charge.

"My son isn't back yet. Can you get him on the radio?" the man nodded, taking a small radio out of his back pocket. He sent a message on the boys' frequency. No answer.

"I'm sorry, sir. Their radio seems to be malfunctioning. Would you like me to get together a search party?" the man looked expectantly at Stu.

Stu was thinking about the last time his son and his friends had gotten lost in the woods. It had been an experience he hoped never to repeat. "Yeah. Yeah, please."

Stu went back to the three kids who were waiting. "You guys ever join a search and rescue party before?" he muttered.

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Phil wasn't feeling great. In fact, he was feeling pretty lousy. He had lost track of time, because nothing seemed all that important anymore. All he wanted to do was get back to Lil... 

He winced as he shifted to his stomach, which was bruised from his tumble in the rain. He knew he was pretty bad off, his pounding head alone was enough to tell him that. Not to mention Tommy and Chuckie's worried glances that he caught whenever his eyes happened to be open.

The smack on the head didn't help much, of course. He didn't hold it against Tommy, though. He knew from Lil that he was hard to live with. "Think with your head, for once!" she often yelled at him. Well, it was too late for that.

Tommy came over, crouching next to him. Phil just shook his head, which sent hundreds of splinters into his skull. He knew that Tommy was going to ask if he was hungry, which he wasn't. He knew that Tommy worried about him, probably even more then Chuckie. He knew it was because he wouldn't do anything. Becasue doing anything really, _really_ hurt.

They were waiting. For people to rescue them. Because somebody had to be coming, right? Their families, if no one else, would be worried. Especially Dil, who adored Tommy. And Kimi, who loved Chuckie. And Lil, who was Lil.

Philloved his sister. He really hoped they'd be found, just so that he could see her again, and hold her. He wanted her to know that he loved her. And that he wasn't fighting against her, anymore.

He was fighting against himself.

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	9. Found

**I own nothing**

Lil, Dil, and Kimi had gotten the impossible permission of being their own group. On the condition they took at least one adult along. Dil, who was picking which adult to take along, chose his grandpa.

Grandpa was almost fully deaf, but he wouldn't take to being left behind while his grandson was missing, and he _was_ keeping up pretty good.

They searched away from the trail, because one of the only rules of the contest was that you could not use the trail. Lil knew they were close. She could feel it inside of her. Then she tripped.

Kimi helped her up, and Lil looked at what she had tripped over. It was a radio. The boys' radio. "We're going the right way!" Dil said excitedly, and then took off even faster, going at a steady jog.

They followed a creek, which turned into a small river. They were fanned out, ten paces apart from each other. Dil saw the fire first, and nearly cried. "That's where they are!" he shouted, then took off at a dead run, Kimi and Lil on his heels.

Tommy heard the approaching footsteps first, and started shouting. Chuckie joined in, hoping that it wasn't a bear. Phil did nothing. He was wondering why his friends were shouting.

Dil ran straight to Tommy and hugged him, crying freely. Tommy was crying too. Dil brought help-help for Phil.

Kimi went to Chuckie and hugged him, though she didn't cry. Chuckie tried not to let the tears out but they came anyway.

Lil went over to Phil, "Phil. Philip!" she shouted at her brother. He turned to her and smiled. "Hey Lillian. What're you doing way out here?" then he passed out.

Grandpa, who was in the back of the group, had already told the search party that the boys' had been found via radio. He heard, from nearly a hundred yards away, Lil's frantic screams of, "What have you done to my brother?"

Grandpa, knowing instinctively that something was very wrong, used the same mode to ask for an ambulance, or at least some paramedics.

**Seven hours, an ambulance ride, and two crying fits later**

Lil was sitting next to her brother's bed. She had kicked her mom and dad out, and was thanking the Lord that they had actually left. She just really, really needed to be alone with her brother.

Phil was awake, but dizzy. He told Lil in his own groggy way what had happened, and she had said in reply that if he wasn't so banged up, she'd hit him.

In turn, she told him that he had a bad concussion and was dehydrated, which is why he had an IV that was dripping fluids into his arm.

For his turn, Phil told his sister that he had been thinking he was going to die out there, the pain had been so bad. She told him that he was stupid for thinking that Tommy would ever let him give up so easily.

Lil told Phil that she had been worried sick, and that she had missed him more then he would ever know.

Phil said he did know, because he had missed Lil just as much.

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fin 


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